Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be a debate in the New South Wales parliament today on the future of Wyong Hospital. It is a debate that the Baird government did not want and would not allow but now has to have. More than 20,000 local people signed the petition to keep Wyong Hospital in public hands. It is because of them that the Premier, the health minister and the New South Wales government will today be forced to justify that decision. It is a decision that breaks their $200 million promise to upgrade the hospital, that affects the largest employment sector on the Central Coast and that will have ramifications for thousands of health workers at Wyong Hospital, and their families. It is a decision that has the potential to compromise patient care, research and training at the major metropolitan hospital on the northern Central Coast. We were given no warning or explanation. We deserve better.

My state Labor colleagues David Mehan, David Harris and Yasmin Catley will be in the parliament today taking part in this debate, but they are not alone. They represent thousands of Central Coast residents, the members of the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association, the Health Services Union and the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation. Patients deserve answers. Workers deserve answers. Wyong is our community hospital; it is not the government's to sell.